Besançon violinist sentenced to three years for cocaine trafficking
Beng Bakalli, a 45-year-old concertist with the Victor-Hugo orchestra, has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment and a fine of 1.1 million euros for transporting 38 kg of cocaine. The tribunal discovered a complete arsenal at his residence.
Musician stripped of status for international drug trafficking
Beng Bakalli, violinist with the Victor-Hugo orchestra of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, was tried on 9 October at the Nice tribunal. The 45-year-old musician, father of four children and with no prior criminal record, was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and a fine exceeding one million euros for transporting cocaine destined for Albanian traffickers, according to estrepublicain.fr.
The interception took place on 10 August at the La Turbie toll plaza on the A8 motorway heading towards Italy. Customs officers who were checking the vehicle – a Citroën C5 Aircross – detected an anomaly in the front floor. The inspection revealed a trapdoor concealed under the carpet, providing access to a compartment built into the entire front section of the vehicle. The drug was packaged in 33 packets, totalling 38.380 kg of cocaine, valued at 1.1 million euros at wholesale price and 2.49 million euros at street value.
At the bar, the defendant claimed not to know he was transporting cocaine. "I thought it was more likely to be cannabis," he declared. He maintains he was merely driving a vehicle lent by a friend, which had been used for an initial trip to Spain in April, then retrieved in August for this fateful journey. During his police custody, he stated that he was to receive 20,000 euros for this delivery.
The arsenal found at his residence
Whilst Bakalli was in police custody, the authorities searched his residence located near Besançon. They discovered a veritable arsenal there: two rifles, four pistols, silencers, nearly 1,800 rounds of ammunition and a bulletproof vest. Investigators also seized 88,900 euros in cash, stored under cellophane in a safe.
When the tribunal president questioned the defendant about this accumulation of weapons, the accused provided a brief explanation: "I have a survivalist side. The world is in bad shape." His statements contrasted sharply with his previous profile: married, an intermittent worker in entertainment, a partner with stable income, no known drug consumption, no addiction to finance.
The prosecution submissions and the defence
The prosecutor described the violinist as a figure "deeply involved in large-scale trafficking, linked to high-ranking traffickers in Albania". The prosecution relied on several elements: the volume of cocaine entrusted to him (38 kg, far beyond the quantities handed to simple couriers), the sum of cash in large denominations, the weapons discovered at his residence, and a previous journey made in May between Spain and the Italian border, found through the exploitation of his telephone records. The prosecutor requested six years of imprisonment out of a possible ten.
The customs representative, who was claiming payment of over 1.2 million euros, supported this thesis by noting that "the fee for a simple mule is 3,000 to 4,000 euros, not 20,000". She also stressed that the case demonstrated much deeper involvement in the criminal organisation.
In his defence, lawyers Schlembach and Pichoff emphasised their client's "too perfect" profile: a man of apparently unimpeachable character, with no criminal history, whose main characteristic was precisely that he presented no traits likely to arouse suspicion. They presented the prosecution submissions as disproportionate for a mere occasional transporter who had immediately admitted his responsibility.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)